Tag Archives: Song of Blood and Stone

This is part of the weekly meme over at the Caffeinated Reviewer, where book bloggers can share the books and blogs they have written.

And the sun is shining! Yesterday my sister and I wandered along the beach eating ice creams and watching the sun glinting on the water at Littlehampton beach. It’s been a much easier week, I’m glad to say.

On Monday evening, I had a particularly wonderful Creative Writing lesson – my students rose magnificently to the writing exercise and the quality of the writing we heard had me walking out of the room on air. I always enjoy my teaching – but that was definitely a golden moment… On Thursday, my wonderful friend, Mhairi came over for more talk about books and marketing and suchlike – and the dark arts are looking a little less murky. I am now working on the final book in my Sunblinded trilogy, Breathing Space, going through the final editing phase and hope to have it out sometime in June/July… watch this space.

This week I have read:

The Hyena and the Hawk – Book 3 of the Echoes of the Falls by Adrian Tchaikovksy
Tchaikovsky’s epic fantasy trilogy, Echoes of the Fall, following The Bear and the Serpent. From the depths of the darkest myths, the soulless Plague People have returned. Their pale-walled camps obliterate villages, just as the terror they bring with them destroys minds. In their wake, nothing is left of the true people: not their places, not their ways. The Plague People will remake the world as though they had never been. The heroes and leaders of the true people – Maniye, Loud Thunder, Hesprec and Asman – will each fight the Plague People in their own ways. They will seek allies, gather armies and lead the charge. But a thousand swords or ten thousand spears will not suffice to turn back this enemy. The end is at hand for everything the true people know.This was yet another in the fabulous run of books I’ve read, recently. A wonderful end to an outstanding series… I reviewed this one during the week.

Song of Blood and Stone – Book 1 of the Earthsinger Chronicles by L. PenelopeOrphaned and alone, Jasminda lives in a land where cold whispers of invasion and war linger on the wind. Jasminda herself is an outcast in her homeland of Elsira, where her gift of Earthsong is feared. When ruthless soldiers seek refuge in her isolated cabin, they bring with them a captive–an injured spy who threatens to steal her heart.This was an interesting dystopian fantasy adventure that was a solid start to this series with an engaging protagonist. Recommended for fans of romance fantasy.

Like so many of my Netgalley finds, it was the cover that caught my eye – such a beautiful, unusual image for a dystopian fantasy adventure…

Orphaned and alone, Jasminda lives in a land where cold whispers of invasion and war linger on the wind. Jasminda herself is an outcast in her homeland of Elsira, where her gift of Earthsong is feared. When ruthless soldiers seek refuge in her isolated cabin, they bring with them a captive–an injured spy who threatens to steal her heart.

That’s as much of the rather chatty blurb. I’m willing to share. I really enjoyed Jasminda as a character – she is gutsy, intelligent and resourceful under pressure. It was a really nice change having a young girl being the one doing the rescuing during those first, desperate encounters on the mountain. The other main viewpoint character in this adventure is Jack, the wounded soldier who Jasminda finds herself trying to protect from the brutality of the soldiers hunting him for a spy. The beginning immediately pulled me in and had me fully engaged – fast-paced, full of adventure and peopled with strong, sympathetic characters. There is thoughtful, intelligent handling of racism throughout this book, which worked effectively within the story – I wish other fantasy authors would also tackle this subject. I also enjoyed the world and the magic system, which made sense and had definable boundaries – always a bonus.

I powered through the book until I got nearly to the halfway stage when the whole tenor changed as it morphed into a love story – furthermore, a love story with a fair amount of graphic sex. As I was under the impression that this was a YA read, I was slightly taken aback because the amount of description and time devoted to the sex scenes felt far more appropriate for a New Adult book. While the sex took part between two people who clearly loved each other, it isn’t what I’d bargained for, or expected from the cover or the blurb – and yes, that was something of a problem for me. However, I am aware that is a personal preference and there was nothing violent or untoward about these scenes, other than they went into a lot more detail than I was expecting.

Alongside the love story is the deteriorating political situation between the two countries involved, along with a power-hungry, autocratic wizard of immense power. The flashback scenes were well handled and no time was I confused about what was happening. The writing is smooth and the plotting well paced. All in all, this is a gripping, well told story with a good climax and strong ending. Highly recommended for fans of gripping romance fantasy stories. While I obtained an arc of TheSong of Blood and Stone from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This is my choice of the day:

Song of Blood and Stone – Book 1of the Earthsinger Chronicles by L. Penelope
44% The Elsiran soldiers were now tasked with housing those whom they’d only ever seen as the enemy. The atmosphere was taut with tension.
Two soldiers tramped down the hall. Their conversation halted when they caught sight of her. Jasminda averted her eyes, but couldn’t avoid the hostility rolling off them.
The men continued on, but their voices reached her. “Looks like the commander has himself a new pet.”

BLURB: Orphaned and alone, Jasminda lives in a land where cold whispers of invasion and war linger on the wind. Jasminda herself is an outcast in her homeland of Elsira, where her gift of Earthsong is feared. When ruthless soldiers seek refuge in her isolated cabin, they bring with them a captive–an injured spy who threatens to steal her heart…

I am really enjoying this one – the world is well drawn and Jasminda is an engaging and sympathetic protagonist. The magic system is only now becoming clear, but the rules and consequences are intriguing and I’m keen to see where it goes next.